


I See My Future In Your Eyes

by 27drouin



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: First Dance, Kissing, M/M, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Wedding Fluff, anxious Jo, nate is a good husband
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-08
Updated: 2017-05-08
Packaged: 2018-10-29 08:28:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,721
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10850226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/27drouin/pseuds/27drouin
Summary: For some reason, Jo felt exponentially more nervous about the first dance than he had been about walking down the aisle and saying his vows. That had been the easy part. Slow dancing in front of everyone he knew, on the other hand, not so much.





	I See My Future In Your Eyes

**Author's Note:**

> I never write fluff, this is so beyond out of my comfort zone. The fact that after literal years of writing Jo & Nate, I'm finally posting a fic online, is wild.
> 
> This whole fic is Meghan's fault, she should have never told me that Perfect by Ed Sheeran would be Jo & Nate's wedding song. This is dedicated to her for always listening to me yell about Jo & for always being super supportive of my writing.
> 
> The title is from Ed Sheeran's "Perfect".

From where he stood, Jo could hear the sounds of all his wedding guests in the other room. The two-hundred or so voices were clear as day from the stuffy hallway where he stood, his new husband by his side. His hands were sticky with sweat as he listened to the various mingling guests who were awaiting he and Nate’s entrance. It would only be a matter of minutes before the DJ was completely set up and they would be called into the reception to do their first dance. The thought made Jo tighten his hold on Nate’s hand.

For some reason, he felt exponentially more nervous about the first dance than he had been about walking down the aisle and saying his vows. That had been the easy part. Slow dancing in front of everyone he knew, on the other hand, not so much. It was a whole other ball game. He figured it had something to do with his aversion to public displays of affection. He hated them so much so that in the beginning of wedding planning he’d wanted to nix the first dance altogether. Alas, Nate has squashed that idea pretty quickly, reasoning that while they were an unconventional couple, they were going to have a perfect conventional wedding, first dance and all.

Jo really hadn’t been strong enough to argue with Nate while his then husband-to-be was pouting at him, eyes wide and pleading. So he agreed to do the damned first dance but made Nate promise that he got a say in which song they would dance to. If he left the decision up to Nate they would probably end up dancing under a pink spotlight to Whitney Houston’s _I Will Always Love You_ or something equally cheesy and horrendous. 

Surprisingly enough, they were able to settle on a perfectly uncheesy song fairly quickly despite Jo’s little gripes about how silly and overdone the first dance really was. He had continued to grumble about it in the weeks leading up to the wedding, Nate barely commenting on Jo’s bratty behaviour.

“I’m going to feel like an animal on display at the zoo, c’mon Nate. Everyone does the first dance, are we really going to be like every boring couple in the history of marriage? That’s so lame.” He was beginning to sound like a petulant child, he saw that, but it didn’t stop his whining any.

He may have been spurred on by the fact that Nate seemed in no way annoyed, he just let Jo moan and complain without comment. He wasn’t even looking toward Jo, his excited eyes dancing between the entrance to their reception and the carpet. Jo suspected that Nate probably wasn’t paying any sort of attention toward him. Nate had this quiet kind of happiness, he would get filled to the brim with emotion and spend hours on end in complete contented silence. Jo figured he spent his time feeding off of that full feeling, his mind racing and replaying whatever made him feel so amazing. After they had gotten engaged, Nate had spent two straight hours in silence. He’d just laid in his bed in Cole Harbour, their bodies intertwined, running his fingers through Jo’s hair.

Jo tugged his husband’s hand, “babe, we should just forget the dance thing, okay? Let’s just like, go in and cut the cake and get nice and drunk. Nobody will notice if we skip it.” He was borderline begging and it felt completely stupid but his stomach was in knots. He was being mildly ridiculous, but he could practically hear the stupid chirps his teammates would unleash on him if he managed to make an ass of himself in front of a crowd.

The glittering happy look finally left Nate’s eyes as they trailed down to look at Jo’s panic stricken face. It only took a moment before concern covered his features. “Hey listen, I’ll be there with you the entire time, yeah? Nothing’s gonna happen, I’ve got you.” Nate squeezed Jo’s hands tightly, head leaning down to press a kiss to the tip of Jo’s nose. His lips trailed up the bridge of Jo’s nose to his forehead where they rested as he continued, “just wanna have this one dance with my husband, okay? You can just look at me the entire time, right in my eyes, don’t even pay attention to the people in there. You could even close your eyes if you want, I won’t mind.” His lips brushed against Jo’s skin each time he spoke, warm breath fanning across his hairline. Nate pulled back, his jaw set seriously as he scanned Jo’s face. “It won’t be too awful, I promise, and if it gets to be too much, I’ll get other people to come onto the floor and dance too. You've got this.” He kissed Jo’s head once more as if to signal the end of his quasi-speech. 

Jo kind of felt like his heart was going to burst out of his chest, warmth easing his bones. Instead of verbally responding, he lifted himself up onto the balls of his feet and slotted his lips with Nate’s. His thumbs brushed the insides of Nate’s wrists before clasping their hands together. The kiss was soft, less extravagant than the one they’d shared after exchanging their vows, less heated than the gasped kisses they’d shared the night before, but the kiss still felt like home. Kissing Nate was something Jo could and has spent hours doing. The soft press of Nate’s lips against his mixed with his high-strung emotions brought a whimper out of his throat. Everything felt like too much but not enough at the same time his mind fuzzy, the word forever floating around in his head. They could kiss forever, he was Nate’s forever, Nate was his forever. _Forever, forever, forever._

Too quickly a loud cough brought them apart, Jo looked toward the noise with spit slicked lips to see Tyson grinning at them. Jo could practically already hear the chirp that would come out of Tyson’s mouth, the moans about how disgustingly romantic they were. It was okay, if he wanted to pretend that he wasn’t a hopeless romantic then Jo could pretend that he didn’t notice the tears welling up in Tyson’s eyes as the vows were being exchanged. 

“As painfully adorable as this is, the DJ is all set up and Jo’s mom looks like she might flip her lid if you two don't go in and dance now.” Tyson gave a sheepish look before huffing out a short laugh. “So if you guys could go in and be disgustingly cute in there,” he pointed over his shoulder into the venue, “before Mrs Drouin yells at a member of the catering staff again, that would be lovely.” 

Jo should be apologising for his mother's behaviour, he knew that, but the nervous knot had instantly returned to his stomach as if it had never left. His entire body going tense in Nate’s arms as worst case scenario after worst case scenario played over and over in his head.

Nate seemed to realize Jo’s distress almost instantly, bending his head to down to Jo’s height, forcing him to make eye contact. “Sweetheart, look at me. You’ll be fine, it’s only three minutes. It’ll feel just like it did when we practised, yeah?” He wrapped a hand around the back of Jo’s head, fingers playing with the hair at the nape of his neck. “And afterwards we can enjoy our night slightly out of the spotlight.” His lips once again found Jo’s forehead, “I love you.” The words were so quiet that Jo almost didn’t hear them, the sentiment barely above a whisper.

The words eased some of his anxiety, his bones slowly going less rigid, his heart rate going back to a somewhat normal pace. “Love you more,” he murmured slowly pulling away. 

“Is it cool for me to tell the DJ you guys are ready?” Tyson looked right at Jo as he asked, the serious glint in his eyes contrasting against the grin playing on his lips.

Jo managed a shaky nod in response, focusing on not freaking himself out. While he felt more at ease than he had a few minutes prior, he still felt slightly nauseous. His hand held Nate’s arm in a vice grip.

If Jo was thankful for anything, it was how dark it was in their venue when he and Nate got called in to do their dance. While he could hear the cheers and applause of his wedding guests, he couldn’t see them, it made some of his nerves settle. The settled feeling only lasted a few seconds before he and Nate were on the dance floor in the centre of the room. A spotlight settled onto them as Jo turned toward Nate.

He wrapped one hand around Nate’s waist and gripped his hand in the other as Ed Sheeran’s _Perfect_ filled the room. They began to sway together slowly, in time with the beat like they had practised countless times before. His head settled in the crease of Nate’s neck, eyes closed, and he forced himself to focus on the song and on Nate as opposed to the two hundred people watching them dance. 

Nate was awfully singing along with the words in his ear, voice totally off-key and painful to listen to. He was good at a lot of things, singing was definitely not one of them. Despite how awful he was feeling, listening to Nate absolutely butcher their wedding song brought a small smile to Jo’s face. He squeezed himself closer to Nate, humming the beat of the song quietly, god forbid his humming upstaged Nate’s singing. 

While he couldn’t see the wedding guests gushing over them dancing, Jo could certainly hear them. He could almost pick out his mother’s failed attempts at muffling her cries, she always was overly emotional. He pictured all of the eyes on him, his stomach dropping, his feet momentarily stopping disrupting the pace and flow of their dance. He let out a wounded sound before forcing himself to sway again, ignoring his body’s need to get as far away from the spotlight as possible. Sweat practically felt like it was pouring from his hand as he gripped Nate tighter.

“Hey, are you okay?” Nate finally stopped his wretched singing to focus on Jo who apparently wasn’t hiding his emotions very well. 

“Fine,” Jo muttered, words coming out angrier than he had intended, he winced.

“You’re shaking like a leaf babe, are you sure?” Nate placed a chaste kiss on Jo’s jaw and gave his hand a squeeze.

“Yeah, I’m good. It’s just- it’s a lot, you know?” Even his words were coming out shaky, he hoped Nate didn't notice it.

“Want me to get other people to come out and dance too?”

He wanted to say yes, the thought of having the spotlight off of him made his heart rate decrease slightly, but if he said yes then he would feel like shit. Like he couldn’t even handle one dance. He robotically shook his head, “I’m okay, really.”

Nate let out an unconvinced sound but didn’t argue, his atrocious singing beginning again. 

Jo sniffled and tried to make his movement to be less tense.

“You’re not going to cry, are you? Because I'm quite attached to this tux, would be better if you didn't get tears all over it.”

At that, Jo lightly kicked Nate in the foot, momentarily messing up their dancing. Luckily they resumed pretty quickly. “Bastard,” Jo muttered while Nate giggled. “For the record, I’m not about to cry but it’s totally hypocritical for you to make fun of me for crying mister cries-while-reciting-his-vows.” 

Nate made an offended sound and sent his own light kick into Jo’s foot. “I did not cry, it was the lights, they were right in my eyes.” He pulled Jo in closer, his nose trailing through his hair.

Jo snorted, “wow Nathan. I refuse to be married to such a blatant liar. I'm filing for divorce as soon as this song is over.” He smiled into Nate’s neck before placing a small kiss near his Adam’s apple.

Nate groaned, “You’re the absolute worst.”

Jo pulled his head up and studied Nate’s face, a grin playing on his lips. “You love me.”

Nate didn’t hesitate before leaning in and kissing him. It was a short, barely there, whisper of a kiss that made Jo’s chest feel tight. Nate pulled away too quickly and placed his forehead against Jo’s their noses touching. “I do. I love you so much, you're my whole world.” His eyes were so bright and sparkling and Jo’s chest kind of felt like it was going to cave in.

“Huh. This whole time I thought you were marrying me for my dashing good looks and money.” Jo forced his expression to stay serious despite the laugh that was bubbling up in his throat.

Nate wasn't as controlled and tipped his head back with a loud laugh, his shoulder shaking. When he calmed down, his head rested against Jo’s. “I mean, those were both very large factors in my decision to marry you, the whole love thing was pretty much an afterthought.”

“Figures. You always were shallow,” he chuckled lightly, most of the sound getting lost in the song.

“God you’re a brat,” Nate breathed.

Jo didn't respond, instead resting his forehead on Nate’s shoulder, eyes closed. While his hands were still sweaty and shaking and his heart was working overtime, he somewhat felt better, Nate always knew how to calm him.

Nate apparently decided to spare Jo’s ears and began humming along with the song and Jo let his mind wander, tracing over thoughts of he and Nate, of the ups and downs of their relationship. He could remember certain memories with perfect clarity, things like their first kiss or their engagement, others were blurry, like the late nights spent together during their brief reunion during the regular season. 

He wasn’t going to cry, he wasn’t, but his chest kept constricting like it was trying to cave in on itself, his heart felt like it weighed hundreds of pounds, and he held onto Nate as tightly as he could. He was a firm believer that he and Nate were made each other, that there was never anyone else on the planet he was meant to love like he loved Nate. His heart was filled with Nate and his stupid jokes and his bad hair and his filthy hockey. Nate had been his forever and always since practically the day they met when they were sixteen.

It felt equal parts too soon and not soon enough when the song came to a close and Nate lifted his head away from Jo’s neck. Slowly, Jo did the same, his eyes locking with Nate’s, a million emotions swimming in his chest.

Nate moved the hand he had around Jo’s waist and brought it up to Jo’s cheek, cupping his face. Without speaking, Nate brought his lips down to meet Jo’s in a kiss much more lingering and warm than the one they had shared just minutes prior.

Jo tried to pour all of his feelings into the kiss, his lips moving languidly against Nate’s like they had all the time in the world. Finally, in that moment his mind wasn’t preoccupied with the people watching him or his nerves, he was able to focus all of his energy on Nate. He would feel relieved if it weren’t for how dizzy the kiss made him. They stayed like that for a long time, it felt like hours later when they did eventually pull away, their foreheads resting against each other.

Nate was breathing harshly, eyes wet with tears.

Jo kept any chirps he had to himself, his own emotions too overwhelming to try and joke about. “I love you so much.” His words were shaking once again, for different reasons than they had been earlier. He was not going to cry, he refused to cry.

Apparently, Nate wasn’t setting the same boundaries for himself as he let a tear fall. “I’ll love you always,” he whispered, his lips quivering as he spoke.

“Forever,” Jo murmured before bring his lips back to Nate’s. _Forever, forever, forever._

**Author's Note:**

> You can cry about Jo with me on Twitter (@jodrouinx) or Tumblr (@27drouin)


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